THERE'S a sign at the end of my street. It's a large cautionary yellow diamond, emblazoned with the words: "No access to the Hollywood sign."

And it's a lie. Follow my road up the hill and it will deposit you at the foot of the iconic landmark.

The city authorities put up the roadside sign a couple of years ago under pressure from residents weary of tourists clogging streets in search of a close-up view of the famed 45ft-high letters.

But still the tourists come and thousands more daily wend their way up nearby Beachwood Canyon, filling the narrow winding streets, blocking driveways, parking in the middle of the street for photos, backing up over lawns, leaving litter piled in their wake.

Now the inhabitants are fighting back. "Dismantle the Hollywood sign", proposes a flier. Having armed checkpoints is another - perhaps not entirely serious - suggestion to ward off sightseers who swarm "like locusts from all across the world", according to the leaflet that was created by a Hollywood producer who asked to remain anonymous, fearing reprisals.

In 1923 the sign was erected as a billboard for a housing estate but it quickly became a local landmark as well as an internationally recognised symbol of the movie industry's larger than life dreams.

Now it's a battleground and residents have taken the fight to the streets. Official-looking signs have been posted on lampposts with blunt messages such as, "Warning - tourist-free zone - all tourists leave the area" and, "Tourists go away". At meetings people have proposed erecting gates across some streets and even building an aerial tramway to the peak next to the Hollywood sign, so that visitors don't swamp the roads.

At times the top of the hill leading up to the sign looks like the trail leading to another world famous site: Mount Everest. There are the same long lines of visitors waiting for the chance to pose for a summit photo, the same detritus left behind. There's even the occasional dead body left on the hill - police found a murder victim dumped there last year.

Visitors flock to have their photographs taken under the landmark [GETTY]

It's hard for us to manage our daily lives now. it's really gotten out of hand

Fran Reichenbach

"It's hard for us to manage our daily lives now," says Fran Reichenbach, president of the neighbourhood association.

"We live in the middle of an area that is very attractive to people all over the globe. We knew that when we moved here but in the last few years it's really gotten out of hand."

A decade ago only a handful of tour operators offered viewing tours of the sign, which is visible for miles across Los Angeles. Now there are more than 40 companies running buses and vans up the slender canyons.

Many tourists use satellite navigation systems in their phones and cars to guide them to the best views, leading them not down main roads but narrow residential lanes.

"I wish tourists wouldn't drive up there," says Los Angeles councilman Tom LaBonge. "But GPS has put people from around the world at the doorstep of people who live up there."

In the sun-baked hills around the sign wildfire is a constant threat and people blocking access to fire engines are a genuine concern.

Police admit they rarely ticket those who illegally park, or smoke in the tinder-dry brushy terrain because visitors rarely return for their court dates.

"It seems a lot of these tourists have little regard for their own safety," says Victoria Carlson of Burbank, who walks her dogs in the canyon every day. "It's all about getting that award-winning shot. Something definitely needs to be done to protect the safety of tourists and locals alike."

However others in Los Angeles are unsympathetic to the residents. "First people complain about living near an airport. Now others complain about living near the Hollywood sign," says Frances Sikorski. "Were the complainers there before the sign? Probably not."

Bruce Feldman of nearby Santa Monica even suggests: "Let us move their historic sign to our beautiful, tourist-friendly community by the sea."

Various control policies have been tried, with little success. In 2011 the authorities began weighing buses as they entered the canyons, enforcing a 2.5-ton limit. Tour companies responded by sending more small vans instead of fewer large buses. This summer the city tested checkpoints, where people were warned of parking restrictions and directed to less clogged roads.

BUT still they come by the thousands daily, caravans of vehicles chugging up the canyons and tourists winding down their car windows to shout: "Can I get to the Hollywood sign from here?" I always point them in the right direction. If they have come thousands of miles to see a 90-year-old advertising sign who am I to spoil their fun?

Just days ago I noticed that the metal pole holding the "No access" sign at the end of my street had been bent sideways like a palm tree in a hurricane.

Was it accidentally hit by one of the many tourist buses that gleefully ignore its warning? Or was it rammed by a van crammed with tourists? Either way, it's a sign of the times.

SOME TALL STORIES

IT'S THE world's most famous advertising billboard and was once the largest on the planet: 45ft high and 450ft across. Raised with the aid of mule teams it originally read HOLLYWOODLAND to promote the estate being built on the Los Angeles hillside.

Expected to stand for only a year it became a symbol of Tinseltown - and its darker side. In 1932 struggling actress Peg Entwistle threw herself to her death from the H. The sign became a suicide spot for failed starlets.

After falling into disrepair residents called for its demolition. In 1949 it was repainted and shortened to HOLLYWOOD as a tribute to the now burgeoning film capital. The last four letters were salvaged and sold in 2005 to artist Bill Mack who uses the metal sheets as canvases on which he paints stars from Hollywood's golden age. By 1973 the top of the D had fallen off, an O had toppled over and an arsonist had torched the second L. Celebrity donors paid for a new sign in 1978.

Pranksters have altered the giant lettering at times. When marijuana was decriminalised in 1976 it read HOLLYWEED and was changed to HOLYWOOD for the Pope's 1987 US visit.

The sign was repainted last year at a cost of £115,000 - more than it originally cost to erect.